President Obama is sitting on a massive financial advantage over a slate of Republican presidential candidates, having easily raised more money than the combined GOP field, according to fundraising figures released by his campaign on Wednesday.
Despite the gap, Obama’s campaign in playing the role of financial underdog, saying they are up against an endless supply of outside money for conservative causes.
But that claim is being dismissed by government watchdogs, who say both sides are turning to big-money donors able to keep their donations private in the wake of a Supreme Court decision easing restrictions on giving to outside political groups.
“The Obama campaign seems to be intentionally blurring the line,” said Michael Beckel, of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog. “During the ’08 campaign, Obama, and McCain to a certain extent, worked to put the kibosh on these outside groups. That’s not happening this time around.”
Obama collected $47 million for his campaign fund Obama for America, with the Democratic National Committee raking in $39 million during the past three months. In comparison, GOP presidential candidates have raised $35 million, according to figures released thus far.
The $47 million exclusively slated for Obama’s re-election outpaces the $35 million President Bush raised during the same period from 2003 and the $32.5 million then Sen. Obama collected in the second quarter of 2007.
Still, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina’s message to supporters downplayed that advantage.
“We have reason to be proud of what we’ve built so far but it’s going to get tougher from here,” he said, pointing to an “unprecedented barrage” from “outside groups that don’t have to disclose a word about what they’ve raised.”
Messina referred to Crossroads GPS, the conservative group co-founded by GOP strategist Karl Rove, which he said is expected to spend $120 million on the presidential and congressional races. As a “social welfare” organization under the tax code, Crossroads GPS is not required to reveal its donors.
But Messina did not mention that a handful of liberal organizations are gathering donations under the same rules.
Former Obama White House aides Sean Sweeney and Bill Burton formed Priorities USA, the liberal version of Rove’s group. That group is expected to raise $100 million for the Obama campaign.
As money pours into Obama-friendly causes, some say a clear double standard is on display.
“It’s the rhetoric we always see from people on so-called outside groups,” said Sean Parnell, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, a nonprofit group that argues for First Amendment rights. “Money on my side is good and pure and money spent on the other side is tainted and corrupt.”
Many political observers expect Obama to raise more than $1 billion by the end of the campaign. The president collected $750 million for his 2008 bid.
However, Republicans say a sour economy will overshadow Obama’s financial edge.
“With the economy in the tank, the president can’t win re-election,” said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee.
